Günther Peters (zoologist)

Portrait of Günther Peters (in April 2012 in Panketal near Berlin)

Günther Peters (born July 10, 1932 in Stralendorf near Schwerin) was Professor of Zoology and Director at the Institute for "Special Zoology and Zoological Museum" at the Humboldt University in Berlin from 1975 to 1997 .

Peters is considered one of the most important German-speaking odonatologists and herpetologists . The main focuses in research and teaching are and have been topics on palaeozoology of vertebrates , comparative morphology , zoogeography and the topic of evolution and species theory - phylogenetics and systematics .

Life

Günther Peters was born the oldest of five siblings. His parents were so-called cottagers , that is, owners of a small estate with little houses that had little land and cattle of their own. The up-to-date strict upbringing was primarily the responsibility of the grandfather, since the father had been drafted into the Wehrmacht at a very early age when the war began in 1939 . From the beginning of the war until the end of the war, he spent primary school first in his place of birth, later in Schwerin. From the end of 1946 Peters attended the preparatory college (these were founded on the basis of an order from the Soviet military administration for the Soviet occupation zone in autumn 1946; they primarily served to pave the way for workers 'and peasants' children to go to college or university). From 1949 to 1952 the preparation for the higher education entrance with final Abitur followed at the workers and farmers faculty (ABF) Rostock. After obtaining his university entrance qualification, Günther Peters began studying biology in 1952 with a major in zoology and a minor in paleontology at the State University of Leningrad in the former USSR , which he completed in 1957 with a thesis on the hybridization zone of western and eastern sand lizards. After his time in Leningrad, Günther Peters did his doctorate with a doctoral scholarship at the Humboldt University in Berlin under the supervision of, among others, Erwin Stresemann on Anatolian-Caucasian pygmy lizards. The acquaintance of Erwin Stresemann arose in 1956 in Leningrad at an ornithologist conference, where he was available to him as an interpreter. When Peters came to the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin a year later , he met Stresemann again there. Immediately after obtaining his doctorate, he was hired as a research assistant in the Zoological Museum of the Humboldt University in 1960. From 1962 to 1984 he took over the custody of the herpetological collection. During this time Peters completed his habilitation in 1972 with a topic on the systematics of the butterfly agamas. In 1975 he was offered a professorship and established the work area “phylogenetic systematics”. The tasks as deputy director of the Museum für Naturkunde, responsible for research until 1975, later until 1990 for the area of ​​zoology, followed from 1990 to 1996 as director for the "Institute for Special Zoology and Zoological Museum". In the history of the Museum für Naturkunde, Günther Peters was the only director to date who was elected by the staff and whose election was subsequently confirmed by the Council of the Museum and the Rector of Humboldt University (the Museum für Naturkunde was removed from the Humboldt University in Berlin, and the Zoological Museum became the Institute for Systematic Zoology).

Scientific work

Herpetology

Günther Peters is an evolutionary biologist and “trained” herpetologist with a focus on phylogenetic systematics, which is also proven by numerous publications. Work on the systematics of the fence and green lizards as well as various agamids was particularly important . Among other things, he described 16 new species and subspecies, mainly from the genus Lacerta . Peters can claim to have recognized the importance of the phylogenetic systematics established by Willi Hennig as a strictly rational research strategy with great future potential earlier than many of his contemporaries . He has consistently campaigned for its dissemination in numerous papers and lectures on the theory and practice of phylogenetic systematics. And that at a time when this unreserved entry still sparked extremely controversial discussions.

Male of the Great Royal Dragonfly

Odonatology

Almost at the same time, in the 1960s, Günther Peters also found his love for dragonflies , especially the noble dragonflies (Aeshnidae). And here, too, he described a new species with Boyeria cretensis in 1991. If one looks at the list of all publications and the list of research objects on his study trips, one has to note that between 1969 and 1976 there was a shift towards dragonflies, and Peters has been involved since 1986 almost exclusively with this taxon . Here, too, his research focus is on the evolution and systematics of the noble dragonflies. The book of the same name “Die Edellibellen Europa” from the renowned series Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei from 1987 is still considered a standard work today. Although the noble dragonflies are the group he prefers to work on, this does not mean that he does not pay attention to other species and topics. He has an old, worked since 1966 issue, namely the ecology and faunistics of dragonflies on bogs , always pursued and this made several excursions to the procurement of materials and to inspect the locations. The same has been true since 2005 for the dragonfly fauna in new ponds on the Berlin sewage fields.

Publications

So far there are 144 publications by Günther Peters as original scientific contributions and monographs, book publications and contributions, critical appraisals and statements as well as popular scientific articles. Of these, 32 papers deal exclusively or at least mainly with dragonflies.

Commitment and honors

• since 1958 in the "Society of Friends of Natural Sciences in Berlin",
• 1960 to 1989 in the "Biological Society of the GDR"
• since 1960 in the "URANIA"
• since 2010 honorary member of the "Society of German-speaking Odonatologists" (GdO)

Works (selection)

The noble dragonflies of Europe

Dragonflies

• Atavistic structures in the wing veins of Aeshna grandis and related species. Entomological Treatises 51: 1-16 (1987)
• The noble dragonflies of Europe: Aeshnidae. The new Brehm library 585. A. Ziemsen, Wittenberg Lutherstadt (1987)
• Bionomic observations and taxonomic studies on Anisoptera from Cuba and eastern Mexico. German Entomological Journal (NF) 35: 221-247 (1988)
• The shadow dragonfly on Crete (Boyeria cretensis spec. Nov.) And the monophyly of the "genus" Boyeria McLachlan, 1896. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift (NF) 38: 161-196 (1991)

Reptiles

• On the taxonomy and ecology of the sand lizards between Lake Peipus and Lake Onega. - Zoological contributions NF 4: 205-232, 1959
• The pygmy lizard (Lacerta parva Boulenger) and its relationship to other Lacertidae, especially the Lebanon lizard (Lacerta fraasii Lehrs). - Zoological Yearbooks, Department of Systematics, Ecology and Geography of Animals 89: 407-478, 1962
• Studies on the taxonomy, distribution and ecology of the green lizards I. Lacerta trilineata, viridis and strigata as independent species. - Messages from the Zoological Museum in Berlin 38: 128-152, 1962
• Studies on the taxonomy, distribution and ecology of the green lizards I. Lacerta trilineata, viridis and strigata as independent species. - Messages from the Zoological Museum in Berlin 38: 128-152, 1962
• Lizards - a breviary. - Verlag Edition Leipzig, 135 pp., 1989

General

• The taxonomy on the way to the analysis of the kinship. - In: "Contributions to the theory of descent and genetics". Verlag Volk und Wissen VE Verlag, Berlin, 50 pp
• The incarnation of the ape and the abiotic requirements of human work. - Medicine and Society 17: 109-130, 1982

literature

• Society of German-speaking Odonatologists (2012) - Festschrift in honor of Prof. Dr. Günther Peters, LIBELLULA - Supplement 12: 1-246
• Hoffmann J. (1998): Pantala and the taxi driver. Hagenia 16: 17-19
• Hoffmann J. (2010): The GdO has two new honorary members. Dragonfly News 24: 7-11
• Paepke H.-J. (1998): Laudation for Prof. Dr. Günther Peters, held on the occasion of his departure from the Museum für Naturkunde of the Humboldt University in Berlin for the festive colloquium on September 29, 1997. Zoologische Abhandlungen, Dresden, 50: 6-10
• Paepke H.-J., J. Plötner & R. Günther (2012): On the eightieth birthday of Prof. Dr. Günther Peters. Unpubl. manuscript